Everlasting
by Cathey Scully
Summary: Friendship cannot be defined by time, or age, it is defined by souls who form bonds.


Title: Everlasting  
  
Author: Cathey Scully  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Spoilers: Everything. Including s8  
  
Category: MSR, 3rd person POV  
  
Feedback: please. Be nice CatheyScully@the-pentagon.com  
  
Archive: If you want, just gimme a head's up first.  
  
Summary: Friendship cannot be defined by time, or age, it is defined by souls who form bonds.  
  
Notes: Thought this up while in math. See, that place that I'm trapped in for 8 hours is good for something!   
  
I remember when I first met Dana Scully. It's not a really vivid memory, not most of it anyway, being that I was about to turn 2 and in considerable pain when Dana moved into our building in early '90. She was fresh out of med school and about to go into Quantico, the FBI training academy (she told me all those years ago) and the only one to care when another kid pushed me down the stairs and I broke my arm. Lucky her, on the day she moved in she found herself in the emergency room with me, trying to explain to the medics that this screaming child was not her own, but a neighbor who's mother was out of town and the babysitter was too much of an airhead to care.  
  
Dana was carting a box full of family mementos up to her apartment when Jamie Stephens decided to give me a shove and I went flying down the stairs. Where my trip may have been graceful, my landing was less than a gymnast's dream. Dana didn't even stop to think when I hit the ground, she rushed over to me, ascertained that my arm was the only thing injured and picked me up like my father used to do before he died and carried me into her apartment to comfort me and wait for an ambulance. At that point, she hadn't even known my name. She did however ask while I was lucid enough to answer.  
  
Once she began training for the bureau, I didn't see Dana much but missed her terribly. The first time I saw Dana for any significant amount of time was the day of her graduation from the academy. She knocked on my door and was prepared to accept tight, joyful hugs from me. After ten minutes in her arms I was surprised to find myself crying. Dana gathered me tighter against her and walked me around the hall like I was a baby, her baby. It was then that she told me that she wanted me at her ceremony that night. I went, and sat with her family. I was treated like one of their own.  
  
My mother was out of town on both my second and my third birthdays. Both times, I spent my birthday with Dana who threw me a small party. The only guests in attendance the first year were Dana and I. The next year her boyfriend Jack joined the party. I wasn't very fond of Jack, mainly because he tried to hog Dana all to himself and even started a fight with her about me, which led to their breakup. Dana told him if he couldn't accept me, he couldn't accept her. It was me Dana and again for a while.  
  
Despite the picture I seem to be painting, my mother wasn't a bad mother. It was just that after my father died, she'd lost such a huge part of herself that she'd lost focus on what she wanted and who she wanted to be. Unfortunately, the amount of time spent with me was one of the things that was sacrificed in her ambition for a successful career and a happy life.  
  
Mom didn't mind that I spent so much time with Dana, after all it meant that she didn't have to pay the babysitter for those nights I spent at her place. She'd told a coworker once that she thought it was sweet how her daughter's best friend was 25 years older than her. Actually, I think it was more amusement than anything, cause when I asked Dana why she enjoyed my company; she merely hugged me and set me on a stool in her kitchen to help make cookies. If my memory serves me correctly, that was one of the last nights I spent at Dana's before she was assigned to a field job.  
  
I turned four in 1992 and for the first time in two years, my mother was home and Dana wasn't. The day before my birthday, I remember her coming into my apartment, greeting that day's child care giver, and taking my hand and leading me into my bedroom where she pulled out a small wrapped gift from her bag and handed it to me. I'd asked what it was; confused by the fact that she was giving me my present a day early. I remember her lowering her head and telling me that she wasn't going to be in town for my birthday because she was going out on a case. I remember crying, sobbing and tossing the present on my bed before stomping around the room and settling in the corner facing the wall. I told Dana I hated her, and it only made me cry harder until she was sitting next to me on the floor with my head in her lap, stroking my hair until I calmed. I remember apologizing, but still telling her that I didn't want the present, all I wanted was for her to be there. She told me that she'd make it up to me. After holding me till I fell asleep, Dana went home. She still missed my birthday.  
  
After a few months, I met the reason that Dana couldn't spend time with me. His name was Mulder, he was her partner. In the beginning I hated him. I saw him as taking Dana away from me and I hated him for it. Soon enough though, my dislike for Mulder lessened.  
  
The year I turned five, Dana made it clear to Mulder who and what was top on her priority list, me. Like before, my party consisted of doing whatever suited my fancy and then finishing off the evening with Dana on her couch. Only that year, Mulder tagged along. When I asked Dana why, she told me it was because he wanted to get to know me better so I wouldn't dislike him. It was the first chance I really got to truly get to know Mulder. I found myself warming up to him quickly when I saw Dana's affection for him.  
  
The next year when Dana was taken I had been out at dinner with my mother and her new boyfriend. Mulder told me later that he didn't know whether that was a good thing or not. When mom's guy drove us back to our building and I saw the police cars and the broken window, I immediately knew something had happened to Dana. I scrambled out of the car before it had even stopped and ran in, yelling for Dana, and dodging cops who tried to pluck me up and carry me out. I didn't stop running until I reached Mulder and Maggie Scully. I remember flinging myself into Mulder's arms and sobbing for all I was worth until there were no tears left.  
  
In the three months that Dana was gone, I found that I no longer hated Mulder. In fact, I loved him about as much as I adored Dana. I think it was when he stopped by nearly every day to visit that I found out the beneath his tough guy, hard exterior, Mulder was just as lonely as I was. Dana was his only true friend and he couldn't afford to lose her. When Dana was returned, she was very sick and nobody would let me see her. Mulder even went so far as to try to sneak me in, but our plan failed and I was forced to wait till Dana had recovered some before visiting.  
  
As I grew over the next year, I saw less of Dana exclusively and more of Dana and Mulder. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I didn't mind half as much as before that Mulder was there. He was there to help her get over her older sister's death.   
  
For a few months, until March or April in '96, Dana had a little Pomeranian dog named Queequeg. I got to take care of him when Dana and Mulder went out of town. That is until my mother told me that I couldn't take care of a dog any more. It was in a way I guess, my fault that poor Queequeg died when Dana had to take him on a case with her and Mulder. Dana says he was eaten by an alligator, Mulder says it was a sea monster. I just missed Queequeg.  
  
To be honest, Mulder had never been too fond of the little dog, which was why I was surprised to find him still with us as Dana and I mourned him. Dana held me tightly and told me that if I really wanted, we could get another dog. Mulder seconded that motion and it almost felt like we were a family, just the three of us. Then Marla, the airhead of the week babysitter called me home. I didn't see Mulder with Dana again for a while. I'm almost sure it was because he had the same thoughts about us as a family as I did.  
  
Then, Dana got sick. It was right around my ninth birthday that she told me that she had cancer and although she seemed fine, she would be getting sicker. I remember that pretty well, it being only 4 ½ years ago and one of my most painful memories to date. I remember sitting on Dana's couch next to Mulder as Dana knelt in front of us, her hands gripping ours. She seemed to be drawing strength from Mulder as she explained to me what she was going to do and what was going to happen. After she finished her story, I somehow found my way into her arms and Mulder's arms were around us both.  
  
As her health condition worsened, Dana was always tired. I found that she never had any energy to do more than snuggle with me on the couch after work. When I asked Mulder why this was, he guiltily told me that it was because Dana was wearing herself out at work. Then it seemed like she was getting better and one afternoon after a particularly bad nosebleed, she sat me down and told me what metastasized meant. She said that her cancer had metastasized and that was what was going on with her and that she didn't know how much time she had left. She's always been frank with me, never telling me half-truths unless it was absolutely necessary. Another thing she did was that she thanked me for being her friend and her little girl. I remember falling asleep in her arms after telling her that I'd always be her little girl.  
  
She got better! Against all odds, Dana got better. Thanks to Mulder and his devotion, Dana got better. This time that she was in the hospital, nobody listened to rules, and whenever I could, I was at the hospital with the woman who'd become my mother. While in the hospital, she told me that we would make up for her not being able to have a big birthday bash with me for my birthday. I told her I didn't care; all I cared about was that she was better.  
  
After her cancer went into remission, Dana seemed to have a new outlook on life, as well as a more easy going way of doing things. She and Mulder had to go to Florida for a partnership seminar and they both mutually decided to invite me along, even though my mother said I couldn't because I had school. They did bring me back some cool souvenirs and Dana and I spent the entire weekend hanging out and making up for lost time. We were both happy for the first time in a while.  
  
When Christmas '97 rolled around, Dana decided that it was time to see her family out in San Diego. Mom and I were actually going somewhere for the holidays, to see some aunt that I'd never met. I didn't want to go, I wanted to go with Dana. I told her so and she told me that it would be a good vacation, even if we weren't gonna spent it together. We exchanged presents, and I cried when I thought that the candles and candle holders weren't a good enough present for Dana after she'd done so much and given me so much over the years. Dana merely held me tightly and hushed my tears saying that I was one of the best gifts she'd ever gotten. That was the year she met the little girl named Emily, her biological daughter.  
  
Dana described Emily to me after she got home, heartbroken over her death. Mulder was always with Dana at that point. I didn't mind, he was part of the healing process for them both. I saw Emily as the daughter that the two of them didn't get to raise, unlike me Dana said. Dana didn't talk a lot about Emily except to tell me that she was a good girl and would have been a sweet little sister.  
  
It took Dana a long time to get over Emily's death, but she said that I helped her more than I'd ever know. Mulder helped her too, she was just afraid to admit that she needed him so much. I needed him around and started asking Dana to invite him over, if only to try to fix the two of them up.  
  
The year I turned ten, 1998, was the first year that Dana and I really didn't go to any kind of kiddie place for my celebration. Instead, we went over to Mulder's and he cooked dinner. In an answer to my unspoken question, Dana told me on the way over that Mulder really wanted to be a part of our celebrations. That was the night that without a doubt, I let Mulder in my life. I fell asleep during the movie that Mulder had picked out, my head on his shoulder and my body in Dana's lap. Dana leaned against Mulder as well, her head right above mine on Mulder's shoulder. The three of us were content.  
  
As time wore on, I found myself in disbelief that Mulder and Dana were not together. Whenever the three of us hung out, they acted like a couple. Dana told me that they were just friends, nothing more. I remember asking about why he was around certain nights at three am.  
  
This brings to mind the fiasco that was my first period. Apparently, being an early bloomer, as Dana called it, runs in my family and I started my period for the first time when I was ten. It was the middle of the night and I panicked, doing the first thing I knew to do. I ran to Dana. My frantic knocking woke her up from a sound sleep. I remember being in tears and Dana quietly holding me on her lap until I finally was coherent enough to tell her what was going on, except at that time I had no idea what a period was! Dana chuckled quietly and took me into the bathroom to show me where the pads were and promised that she'd explain what was going on after I was finished.  
  
Once I'd collected myself enough, I walked back toward the living room where I passed Dana's bedroom and saw Mulder, sleeping like a rock in Dana's bed. That was when Dana put her hands on my shoulders and led me back into the other room so we wouldn't wake Mulder. At that time I was so scared that something was wrong with me, I didn't think much about it, but as time wore on I would have to come over to Dana's late at night for different reasons and almost every time, Mulder would be there. Sometimes he was asleep, sometimes he was awake.  
  
As the year wore on, I had though that my plans were working, until an old friend of Mulder's came back into their lives and Dana began to doubt her feelings for Mulder. Dana described the old friend as conniving and backstabbing and she didn't trust her one bit. I think her name was Diana. I didn't quite understand how Dana thought that Mulder didn't love her; after all, he did go to Antarctica for her.  
  
At first, Dana and I weren't going to spend Christmas with Mulder, but after she came home and told me where she had been, I convinced her to drive us over to Mulder's even though it was almost one am.  
  
A few months later, right before my birthday, I thought my world was falling apart. Diana Fowley came back and according to Dana, single handedly took away nearly everything from her. I assumed that she meant Mulder, but didn't ask. She and Mulder had a big fight and Dana was always sad. The three of us never did anything anymore, and that only made me cry. Dana would hold me and ask what was wrong, but I never told her. I couldn't tell her that seeing the two people I loved most in the world fight was tearing me up inside.  
  
A week before my birthday, two weeks after Dana and Mulder returned from their first case back with their division, I'd finally had enough. I called Mulder and asked him to come over to Dana's. When he got there, I sat them both down on the couch and started ranting. I ranted like I never had before and once I tired myself out, I ran into Dana's bedroom to cry. Through my tears I heard Dana and Mulder talking, really talking to each other. Next thing I knew, Mulder and Dana were sitting on the bed, rubbing my back, their hands overlapping. They both kissed my head and I was lifted into their warm embrace. They didn't fight in front of me again.  
  
That May, Mulder got sick and had to go to the hospital while Dana went off in search of a cure for him. She wrote me a letter from Africa, telling me how she missed me so much and how much she loved me. I was taken aback, because Dana had never told me that she loved me before. When she got home, the first thing I did was throw my arms around her and tell her that I loved her too.  
  
After Mulder got better, we were all happy. Dana smiled more and she flirted with Mulder more than ever. It was after New Years 2000 that I knew something had definitely changed between the two. They never outright told me, but I knew. I knew by the way they touched each other more, and by the way they smiled at each other and played like kids. Even with the misfortunes that befell them, they acted like they were in love.  
  
Dana really scared Mulder and me. One morning, she just took off and didn't tell anyone where she was going. Normally if a case comes up, she'll at least call me and tell me when she'll be back and where to reach her if I need her. Mulder told me that he didn't want me to be alone and so I stayed at Mulder's during the time that Dana was gone. I didn't believe it for one minute, he just didn't want to be alone himself. When Dana came back, we were both relieved. I even came in to find Mulder crying with Dana, no doubt after letting out all the anger at not knowing where she was. When they saw me, Mulder opened his arms and allowed me to join their embrace. I didn't have school for the next week, and so they both took time off from work to be with me.  
  
After Mulder got back from England, everything changed between Mulder and Dana. Dana had told me that she didn't know where her life was going, and with the exception of knowing that I was a lasting part of her life, she didn't know if she still wanted to be doing the same things in five years. I told her that if anything she should talk to Mulder, ask him what he wanted. She said that she knew that continuing to help raise a certain twelve year old was definitely on his list, and that was the end of it until two days later when I walked in on them kissing and laughing on her couch. I was able to figure out that things had progressed then.  
  
Mulder was taken less than three months after that. Dana was absolutely devastated. Their relationship was still so new, so fledging that she didn't know what to do when she found out she was pregnant. I'm afraid I wasn't much help after she told me. Immediately I assumed that since having a child of her own was so important to her, she wouldn't want to have to deal with me anymore. I backed away from her and kept my distance. It wasn't until she ended up in the hospital with something baby related that I realized how my actions were affecting her.  
  
I made one of my few friends who could drive take me to the hospital where I demanded to see Dana. They asked if I was family and I remember looking into the eye of the nurse and telling her if she didn't let me in to see my mother right then, there was going to be some trouble. She let me in and I ran to Dana, giving her a tight hug and telling her how sorry I was. She kissed my forehead and told me that it was okay and she understood why I'd acted like I had. After the evil mean nurse had gone away, I climbed up into the small bed with Dana and we snuggled like we used to when I was little. I told her that when she first told me that she was pregnant, I thought that she wasn't going to need or want me around. I thought that she wasn't going to love me anymore. She told me that no matter what; she'd always love me, even as much of a brat as I was. That was the first time I'd ever vocalized the fact that Dana had become my mother.  
  
A few weeks after her release from the hospital, I met Dana's temporary partner, John Doggett. I was wary of him in the beginning, but Dana assured me that he was only trying to help find Mulder, and so I decided that he wasn't so bad. I still gave him a hard time whenever I saw him. Dana said it was just because I felt like Mulder's territory was being threatened. I told her that it was, she naturally just laughed and hugged and kissed me before sending me to bed. I never slept at my apartment anymore, except when my mother was home, cause then she demanded it.  
  
Mulder, the man who had become my father was dead. Dana and Doggett found him in Montana, dead. Dana couldn't even stop crying to tell me. I gathered it from the grief in her voice and her slumped posture. We spent an entire week crying. It was only three days after he was found that I found myself standing in between Dana and her boss, AD Skinner as they lowered Mulder's casket to the ground. Dana and I held each other as I cried loud, grief filled tears and she breathed quiet sobs into my hair.  
  
In the three months that Mulder was dead, so much changed. Dana changed, I changed, and everything changed. As the days went by, Dana's pregnancy began to show more and more. I remember the day I felt her baby kick for the first time. We were lying on the couch, my head resting on her ever expanding abdomen and she ran her fingers through my hair. She and I were discussing what I might like as a belated birthday present considering it was the beginning of April and my birthday was at the beginning of March. I was thirteen this year. I said to wake up and discover that the last four months had just been a horrible dream. She asked me if there was anything more tangible I wanted. I decided to ask for some accessories for my laptop. After a quick call to her friends the Lone Gunmen, I had my birthday present all set up. I had hugged Dana tightly to thank her when the little one decided to show its appreciation at being woken up. We had a good chuckle over it and I settled back down to play with the settings on my new toys while Dana continued to run her fingers through my hair.  
  
Mulder came back to us. He came back, but he was in such bad condition that Dana refused to let me see him. She told me that no matter how much I thought I was prepared, I didn't want to see Mulder like that. She promised me that as soon as he got better, I would be able to see him.  
  
Mulder was always sad. He wouldn't tell me what was wrong when I got to see him after Dana and I took him home, but I know it had to do with Dana and the baby. He didn't mind spending long hours with me, he just couldn't bring himself to be in the same room with Dana for more than ten minutes. I didn't understand because I knew he loved Dana and I thought that he would love her baby. After all, according to the talk I got from Dana when I started my period, it does take two.  
  
Things worked out, mostly. I only wish it hadn't taken Dana almost dying and losing her baby for Mulder to realize that his place is with us. After her release from the hospital, Mulder doted on Dana. He stayed with us some nights and was always willing to go out for anything his partner might crave.  
  
After Mulder lost his job, he was around all the time. I didn't mind, but Dana seemed to. She didn't act as happy to have him home and safe as I thought she would. I was ecstatic! Every day Mulder would pick me up from school, freeing me from the horrors of the bus. He actually started to open up to me, ask me questions about what it was like when he was gone. I told him the truth in every way.  
  
Dana's mother hired someone else to help take care of Dana. Her name was Lizzie and she didn't like me and the feeling was mutual. She seriously weirded me out. As it turned out she was trying to do something to Dana. Dana had to go to the hospital and I was really worried. When the doctor told us that nothing was wrong, we took Dana home and I was surprised to see my mother.  
  
Mom had come home from a three-week business trip in France to tell me that we were going back there to meet her fiancé. Both of us, not just her. I protested, making up as many excuses as I could, anything from school to saying that Dana needed me here. Mom made me go anyway. I told Dana that I loved her and to take care of herself, being that she was a week away from her due date. Then I got on a plane, and didn't see Dana again, until now.  
  
When I got off the plane, I called Mulder. He offered to come and pick us up, but I told him that mom was going to drive us back. When I got home, I didn't even bother going into my apartment, I just tossed my stuff down and knocked on Dana's door. Dana answered and she wasn't pregnant anymore! I nearly fainted when I didn't see the bulge that had become her for the last four or so months. Dana didn't sense my hesitancy and pulled me into a tight hug.  
  
"Oh Quinn, I missed you so much." Dana breathed into my hair as she held me tightly. I've never been particularly fond of my name, Quinn Odessa. I've always wished that it could be the other way around, but I never seem to have a problem with it when Dana says it. It sounds right, natural.  
  
"I missed you too Dana. Wow, what'd I miss?"  
  
"Not a lot sweetheart. I'm glad you weren't here, you could have gotten hurt."  
  
"Why? What happened?" I asked.  
  
"It doesn't matter Quinn, it doesn't matter." Dana whispered stroking my hair comfortingly. I felt my heart rise up in my throat, knowing that I was going to have to tell her and Mulder the news sometime.  
  
My head was still on Dana's shoulder as we stood in the doorway when Mulder walked in from the bedroom, carrying a bundle of blankets. He smiled when he saw me and I saw the bundle move. I looked at Dana who was crying softly. She smiled to let me know that it was all right and Mulder crossed to us. Dana and I released each other and Mulder handed the blankets to her. I leaned over and gently moved the cloth away to view a perfect sleeping child dressed in a blue sleeper.  
  
"Quinn, this is William. Your little brother." Dana presented her son to me.  
  
"Little brother." I murmured. "Hi William…I'm Quinn. I'm not really your big sister, but I'm sure it won't matter to you. Just like it didn't matter to your mom that I've hung around for the last eleven years." I babbled.  
  
"Don't listen to her. She's suffering from jet lag and doesn't know what she's saying. She is your big sister, just not in the widely understood definition of that term."  
  
We sat down on the couch and Dana showed me how to hold the baby. While he was in my arms, little William woke up. Much to my surprise, he didn't scream, cry or fuss. He just stared quizzically up at me and reached demandingly for my finger.  
  
"He got his father's patience I see." I was amused by Mulder's blush and Dana's chuckle. I knew I had to tell them before we got too settled back into a routine. "Um, Dana, Mulder. There's something I need to tell you."  
  
"What is it Quinn? You sound upset." Dana asked as Mulder bent and retrieved his son so he could put him back down in his bassinette.  
  
"Um, well you know I went to Paris with my mom to meet her fiancé. They're getting married as soon as they can. Um, I'm moving to France." I felt my face crack and the tears started to fall.  
  
Dana pulled me into her arms and I curled up into a ball. She stroked my head and made soothing sounds. It was just like before. Only instead of crying because I fell and scraped my knee, I was crying because my entire life was being changed and I didn't want it.  
  
"Don't make me go Dana. Don't make me go. Please mommy, don't make me go." I whimpered. She kissed my head and rocked me gently.  
  
"I wish we could keep you here sweetie. But your mom wants you with her. I can't take you away from her."  
  
"But she's taking me away from you." I countered.  
  
"You know you're always welcome, and you can live here for college when the time comes. I'm not going to forget you just because you moved away. I'm not going to stop loving you either. Neither is Mulder. Right?"  
  
"Right." Mulder agreed, speaking for the first time.  
  
"Still don't wanna go." I whispered tearfully. My emotional breakdown combined with the fact that I had been on a plane for over seven hours was causing me to fade fast in Dana's lap.  
  
"I know sweetheart." Dana mumbled into my hair.  
  
There was an accident. One of the days that my mother was actually in town, she was driving back from a trip to New York and collided head-on with a tanker truck that was going the wrong way after a huge pile-up. They transported her to the hospital and on the way, she told them to call Dana, knowing I would be with her. We rushed to the hospital to find out that mom had suffered major injuries and her prognosis was not good. They gave her only a few hours even after their best surgeons worked on her. Miraculously, she was able to recognize me and to speak clearly. Without preamble, she told Dana that she had always been a better mother than she had and to continue to take care of me. I gave mom a hug and told her I loved her, and then she slipped away.  
  
I didn't really cry. I mean, I did cry. She was my mother after all, but I didn't cry you know? She was my mother, but I didn't really know her. She barely knew me, so it was almost like she was an acquaintance. I still mourned though, as anyone would, the loss of a loved one. I did love her, I did.  
  
Two days after the funeral, somebody came to Dana's door. He was looking for me. I heard her talking to the person before she came into my room. We sat down on my bed and she explained to me who it was. My dad's brother had heard about my mom's death and wanted custody of me. He told Dana that he thought it would be good for me to be with family.  
  
"No. I'm not even going to talk to him." I crossed my arms stubbornly.  
  
"Quinn, there's nothing to say that you have to go, or even if you'll agree for them to try to get custody. You're old enough now to have a part in the decision of who you want to live with and where." Dana ran her hand up my arm soothingly. "After all, who's to say that I'd let anyone take you away from me." Dana smiled and I hugged her tightly.  
  
"Okay, I'll talk to him."  
  
After he told me the story about my father and their childhood and how my dad had met my mom, my supposed Uncle asked me about myself, and what my plans for the future were.  
  
"Um, I'll be in eighth grade next year. I've known Dana for most of my life, since about six months after my dad died. I want to stay with Dana and Mulder. Because after all, they have raised me. Plus there's William, my little brother. I won't leave any of them." I told Jake as I reached for Dana's hand. She squeezed it and dropped a light kiss on it.  
  
"But Quinn, wouldn't you rather be with family?"  
  
"I am. Dana and Mulder are my family."  
  
That was where he got angry. He stood and nodded curtly to Dana before saying something about his lawyer. He threw open the door and was greeted by Mulder with a handful of groceries and the baby. I quickly pushed Jake out of the way to grab a few bags and give Mulder a quick hug.  
  
Mulder and my uncle regarded each other thoughtfully. Then Mulder asked what I knew he was thinking.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"I'm Jake Reed. Quinn's Uncle. I came to talk to her about coming to live with my wife and me. However, your wife and Quinn seem to have made up their minds already and you will soon be hearing from my lawyer."  
  
Mulder looked quizzically at him and nodded. "The door's that way." He spoke decisively. After Jake was gone, he went into his and Dana's bedroom and put William down for a nap before coming back and asking what that was all about.  
  
Dana and Mulder fought tooth and nail for the next three months to keep custody of me. They even went so far as to say that it was my mother's last request, which if you think about it, it was. She told Dana to take care of me and continue raising me as her own like she'd been doing these past eleven years. It was only after I got up and told the courts where I wanted to be, and why, did the judge grant Dana and Mulder not only full custody, but full adoption rights.  
  
It's official now. I'm where I belong. True, she may not be my mother biologically, and he may not be my father biologically, but they're my parents. I love them with all my heart and the feelings are mutual.  
  
End…  
  
Epilogue:  
  
Dana Scully was making the nightly rounds. She had just fed William and rocked him back to sleep. Now she was reluctant to set the comforting weight of her son down. Mulder was sound asleep, preparing himself for another exhausting day of taking care of the kids.  
  
She was still on maternity leave, technically speaking, but she did make frequent trips to the office to help Agent Reyes convince Doggett of the validity of certain cases. Sometimes to give Mulder a break, she took Quinn and William with her. Quinn loved going to the office with her. She always had. Especially after meeting Agent Reyes, who she said reminded her of Melissa, Dana's sister. Ahh the wonders of Summer Vacation.  
  
Scully walked into her daughter's room and was happy to see that the teenager was snoring. She turned off the TV and single handedly drew the covers up to cover Quinn. After planting a kiss on Quinn's forehead, she reached over to turn off the light. As she carefully navigated the dark room, Scully heard Quinn's soft, sleepy voice.  
  
"Mom."  
  
"Yea Quinn?" Scully whispered.  
  
"Love you."  
  
"Love you too sweetie. Get some sleep, you're coming in for a consult with me tomorrow."  
  
"Yes ma'am." Quinn whispered.  
  
Scully turned to leave, then stopped. "Why don't you come sleep with me and daddy tonight?"  
  
"Okay." Quinn climbed out of bed and walked over to her mother. Scully slipped an arm around Quinn and pulled her to her side. Scully smiled into her son's fine strawberry blond head as she walked back to her room with her past, present and future.  
  
All done!! Bye bye!!  
  
Send feedback to CatheyScully@the-pentagon.com  



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